The door banged against the stopper.Tani didn't mean to hit it that hard, but she was too excited to care. She'd just experienced something so surreal.
On the couch, Rhea pretended to jerk upright with a small gasp, one hand to her chest. Her hair was loose, her eyes half shut, a perfect picture of someone dragged out of sleep.
"You scared me," she said, covering a yawn. "What time is it?"
"Late, to still be on the bed." Tani responded as she locked the door and pressed her back to it for a second.
"I need to tell you something. Please… just hear me out before you say anything."
Rhea sat up straighter, well practiced concern sliding neatly into her face.
"What is it?"
Tani crossed the tiny room and dropped her keys on the table. The whole place suddenly felt extra small. She couldn't sit still. Still the words pushed at her lips.
"He came," she said.
"He came to the bakery."
Rhea went very still, still maintaining her calm.
"Who?"
"The man. From my dreams." Tani's voice thinned.
"He promised he would find me. He… he did."
There was a beat of silence. Rhea folded her hands in her lap.
"Start from the beginning, I'm lost."
Tani told her. Her constant dreams. His hair wet with due, waiting at her bakery. How he said her name. The way the air had felt different, charged. The kiss had stolen thought and given it back as light.
When she finished, her heart felt like it would explode.Rhea let out a soft sound. Not quite a laugh. Not quite pity.
"Darling, dreams borrow faces. It's what they do. You obviously seen him in the magazines."
"This wasn't that," Tani said.
"I swear I've never seen him anywhere but my dreams and this doesn't feel like a coincidence."
"Feelings are tricky," Rhea said.
"Especially when you've been tired this long."
Tani shook her head.
"He was real, I know what I saw."
"I'm not saying he wasn't real." Rhea's tone stayed even.
"I'm saying the story you've been telling yourself about him might not be."
Tani blinked.
"Why would I invent something, only to be found by it?"
"Because you're lonely," Rhea replied, soft, like a doctor delivering a diagnosis that wasn't supposed to hurt if you didn't fight it. "Because you work too hard. Because you want a reason for the ache. We all do."
Tani stared at the floorboards. A bubble of anger rose and popped.
"He said he'd find me. And he did."
"A powerful man with a team and resources walked into a shop he was told about,because he loved your baked goods." Rhea said, still gentle.
"That's not magic. That's logistics, the only magic I see here is your baking."Rhea winked at her.
Tani wasn't going to let some cheap flattery derail her thoughts .
"You didn't see his eyes.It was definitely more than cupcakes." She continued stubbornly.
"No," Rhea said.
"I see yours. You're shaking."
Tani looked down at her hands. They were.
Rhea patted the cushion beside her.
"Come. Sit."
Tani sat on the edge, as if the couch were hot.
Rhea reached for the throw blanket and draped it over Tani's knees like she always did when she played big sister.
"I'm not trying to hurt you. I want you safe. Men like him..." she paused, choosing each word like a step across ice.
"They live in a world that eats people like us. Even if he means well, that world does not. Maybe he lusted after you, when you made the delivery and he believes he can have his share of whatever woman he fancies."
Tani's throat tightened. "You think I'm foolish."
"I think you're kind and naive " Rhea said. "And kind girls are the easiest to bruise. Look at him, he could have his pick of any woman he wants, what could he possibly want with you. Be realistic for once."
"Don't call me a girl."
She said defensively, refusing to admit the fact that Rhea was getting to her.
Rhea's smile flickered.
"Sorry. I'm just looking out for you."
" I'm not mad, Rhea, you didn't see how it felt. It was… like remembering. Like standing in a place I've stood before."
"Déjà vu," Rhea supplied.
"The brain does that under stress."
Tani closed her eyes. The ballroom rose in her mind, music humming under everything, the moment the doors opened and a shadow stepped through.
She opened her eyes again, afraid of crying. "I still don't think this is stress."
Rhea studied her.
"Did you tell him about the dreams?"
"Good God, no!" Tani responded mortified.
"Good."
Tani stiffened.
"Why is that good though ?"
"Because you don't hand a stranger the keys to your head.He would definitely think you've gone crazy." Rhea's voice stayed low, coaxing. "Because if this is only chemicals lying to you, you'll be grateful you didn't make it worse."
"It's not only chemicals," Tani said.
"You don't… You don't know what it's like to wake up tasting champagne, have hickies and then wake up single, counting coins for flour."
Rhea's face softened.
"I know how it feels to want a door out." She touched Tani's wrist, then let go.
"Promise me something."
Tani's gaze flicked up. "What?"
"Promise me you won't see him again. Not until we're sure what this is." Rhea's words were slow, careful.
"Give it a week or two. If it's real, it will still be there. If it's a trick, it will fade. Don't feed it."
Tani stared at her. "You want me to ignore him?"
"I want you to be safe." Rhea lowered her voice.
"He could hurt you without meaning to. Or worse, he could mean to. The CEO of Rhezan global certainly comes with power and PR and people who make problems vanish."
"Nothing happened," Tani said, heat flushing her face. "We only..."
"Kissed." Rhea finished softly, eyes searching.
"And you felt everything you've wanted to feel for six years. That's exactly when people lose themselves."
Tani flinched at how true that sounded.
"Promise me," Rhea said again, quieter this time.
"Don't go to him. Don't answer if he calls. Let this breathe until your head is clear."
Tani heard rain in the pipes. She heard the bell over the bakery door ring again in her mind. She saw his mouth curve like he'd been waiting years to find this exact smile.
"I'll think about it," she said.
Rhea held her gaze.
"That's not a promise."
"It's what I can give for now." Tani said quietly, forcing Rhea to lean back, expression unreadable for a second, then smoothed the blanket on Tani's knees like that settled it.
"Thinking is good."
"I'm not crazy," Tani said again.
"No," Rhea said.
"You're just tired. You're human." She gave a soothing little smile.
"And you're not alone now."
They sat like that for a while, the clock ticking. Tani's heartbeat slowed with the jolts of reality Rhea had shocked her with.
She still felt the urge to explain it all again, to make Rhea feel the hum under the music, the way the word, 'soon' had rung through her bones but she kept her mouth shut.
It didn't seem like words would help.Rhea rose.
"Tea?"
"I can't swallow anything," Tani said.
"Not yet."
"Then sleep." Rhea brushed a curl off Tani's cheek, almost sisterly.
"Tomorrow will look different, you'll see things clearer."
"Maybe," Tani responded.
Rhea's phone buzzed on the counter. She glanced at the screen and pushed it face down, smile unbroken.
"I'll be right here."Tani said as she stood and headed towards the small bed. eyes half shut.
Rhea excused herself on the pretext of taking a walk.
Once out, she picked up her phone, thumb hovering mid-air. Her face changed, less soft now, the cloak of care she'd worn peeling away, like a coat off a hook.
She typed, then erased, then typed again.'He fucking found her.'Her thumb hesitated over send,but she did it anyways.
She then shoved the phone back into her pocket, as she starred at the old building they resided.
Mean while, inside Tani still lay down , even though she was too excited to sleep, but she had already decided.